The Science Writers’ Handbook

I am a proud member of an online community called SciLance, a tribe of sorts composed of 35 members scattered across the United States and Canada. For nearly a decade, we have leaned on one another for insights, moral support, and inspiration for all things having to do with the writing business.

In The Science Writers’ Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Pitch, Publish, and Prosper in the Digital Age, we have packaged the hard-won insights from our combined 300 years of experience into a “truly comprehensive guide to the craft, culture and commerce” of the science writing profession. The Science Writers’ Handbook is used widely by instructors of science writing programs and is a valuable resource for both freelancers and staffers. New York University’s distinguished Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program calls it “the book on science journalism.”

For two years, we maintained an active blog as a companion to the book. There, you can find an archive of more than 270 blog posts that represent our collective advice, confessions of our day-to-day struggles, insights on parenting with children, and much more.

“…a truly comprehensive guide to the craft, culture and commerce of the profession.”

Bracing for Impact

In the summer of 2014, a team of six of us set out to raise $25,000 on the journalism crowd-funding platform, Beacon, to pursue a nine-month-long, in-depth reporting project focused on climate change. Our team name was Flux, and our project was called Bracing for Impact. We sought to tell complex and nuanced stories about the ways that societies and ecosystems are shifting in the face of climate change. Thanks to our supporters, we raised more than $27,000 and produced 27 originally reported stories on nature, culture, science, resilience and weakness in a changing world. Some stories were reported close to home, while others took us to far-flung locations around the globe.